9.10.mohammad Afsar Alam

Mohammad Afsar Alam 1S2
Asia Pacific Journal of Social Sciences, Vol.V(1), Jan-June 2013, pp.152-166

ISSN 0975 5942
Vol.V(1), Jan-June 2013, pp.152-166
Visit: http://www.isaps-india.org/APJSS/index.htm
International Society for Asia-Pacific Studies (ISAPS), www.isaps-india.org
Regional Planning and the Waste Land Development in
India: An Overview
Mohammad Afsar Alam
Assistant Professor, Department of Geography, College of Arts and Social
Sciences, Adi-Keih, Eritrea, N.E. Africa,
Email: drmaalam92@gmail.com
Abstract
Wasteland means degraded and unutilized lands except current
fallows due to different constraints (CSIR, 1990). It includes areas of
degraded forests, hilly slopes, eroded valleys; water logged marshy
lands, ravine, sheet and gully erosion, shifting cultivation, salinity
and alkalinity, shifting and sand dunes, wind erosion, extreme
moisture deficiency, riverine lands, coastal sand dunes etc. where
crop production is not economical. In fact, these are degraded lands
and are ecologically unstable with almost complete loss of top soil
and are unsuitable for cultivation due to decline in their quality and
productivity. Poor land practices have led to malnutrition and decline
in production capacity of the soil. It is estimated that in wastelands
the biomass production is less than 20 per cent of its overall
potential. Wasteland development is one of the major policy
considerations in India since it represents under utilization of
available land resources. It is precisely to restore this ecological
imbalance by developing the degraded non-forest wastelands, the
Government of India had created the Department of wasteland
Development during July 1992 under the Ministry of Rural
Development, which has been subsequently recognized and renamed
Department of Land Resources, with a broader mandate. In the
present paper an attempt has been made to discuss the need for an
appropriate regional planning for the wasteland development on the
basis of shortcomings in the existing system of macro-level sectoral
planning mechanism.
Keywords: Wasteland, Degraded land, Development, Planning
Introduction
India shares 17 per cent of the world population, while its
land is 2 per cent of the total geographical area of the world.
Naturally, the pressure on the land is beyond its carrying capacity.
Therefore, the productive lands, especially the farmlands in India are
in the constant process of various degrees of degradation and are fast
turning into wastelands. At present, approximately 68.35 million
hectare area of land is lying as wastelands in India. Out of these
lands, approximately 50 per cent lands are such non-forest lands,
which can be made fertile again if treated properly. It was
unprotected non-forest lands, which suffered the maximum
degradation mainly due to the tremendous biotic pressure on it. In the
last 50 years it is Indias lush green village forests and woodlots have
been deforestated to the maximum, (Fig. 1). To restore this
ecological imbalance, the Government of India had created the
Department of Wasteland Development to develop the degraded non-
forest wastelands. The wastelands represent under utilization of
resources. In fact, the prevalence of poverty, malnutrition, hunger
and regional inequality is to some extent due to under utilization of
resources particularly in India, it exists in the form of wastelands. It
could be noted that a country like Japan has inadequate land area
with high density of population, but it has achieved a high rate of
economic development, indicating their intensive effort towards
better utilization of resources. In India, despite having a large land
area, the problem of under utilization of resources persists in
different parts of the country. Hence, there is a growing concern on
wasteland development in India. Wasteland development could be
achieved only through formulation and implementation of specific
regional planning.
National Wasteland Board was established in 1985 under the
Ministry of Forest and Environment mainly to tackle the problem of
degradation of lands, restoration of ecology and to meet the growing
demands of fuel wood and fodder at the national level. During the
Seventh Five Year Plan the strategy adopted by the National
Wasteland Board emphasized more on tree planting activities rather
than community participation for wasteland development. In the year
1992, the new department under the Ministry of Rural Development
(now Ministry of Rural Areas and Employment) was created and the
National Wasteland Board was placed under it. The board was
reconstituted in August 1992 and was made responsible mainly for
development of wastelands in non-forest areas in totality by
involving local people at every stage of development. It aims at
creating a scenario where the Government acts as a facilitator and the
people at the grass root level become the real executioner of the
programme. Major programme implemented for improving the
productivity of wastelands and degraded lands keeping in view the
poverty, backwardness, gender and equality is Integrated Wastelands
Development Programme.
Fig. 1 Environmentally Degraded Wastelands
Categories of Waste Land in India
In India there are two types of wastelands in general i.e.
ecological wastelands and developmental wastelands. The ecological
wastelands consist of degraded forests, gullied and ravenous lands,
marked hill slopes, saline-alkali soils, deserts, sand dunes and
shifting cultivation areas. The developmental wastelands include
mine spoils areas, water logged areas formed by seepage of canal
irrigation, foreshores of irrigation reservoirs, industrial wastelands,
Mohammad Afsar Alam 1SS
land strip cleared for laying of electric transmission and so on. Area
wise detailed account of categories of wastelands (Table 1), and their
maps 2, 3 and 4 are given below respectively.
Table 1 Categories of Wastelands in India
S.No. Category
Area (in
sq.Kms.)
1 Snow covered/Glacial 55788.49
2 Barren rocky/Sheet Rock 64584.77
3 Sands-inland/Coastal 50021.65
4 Land affected by Salinity/ alkalinity 20477.38
5 Gullied/or ravenous land 20553.35
6 Upland with or without scrub 194014.29
7 Water logged & marshy 16568.45
8 Steep sloping area 7656.29
9 Shifting cultivation land 35142.2
10 Mining/industrial wastelands 1252.13
11 Degraded/pastures/grazing land 25978.91
12 Underutilized/degraded notified forest land 140652.31
13 Degraded land under plantation crop 5828.09
Grand Total: 638518. 31 Sq.Kms.
Fig. 2 Incidence of A Category Environmentally Degraded Wasteland
The degradation of environment in the fragile Indian sub-
tropical ecosystem is basically attributed to:
Increasing biotic pressure.
Absence of adequate investments and appropriate
management practices.
Over exploitation of natural resources.
The break-down of traditional institutions for managing
common property resources and failure of new institutions to
fill the vacuum, and
Faulty land use practices.
Consequences
Soil erosion and land degradation.
Depletion of natural resources.
Lower productivity.
Ground water depletion.
Shortage of drinking water.
Reduction in species diversity, and
Increase in the extent of wasteland.
Table 2 Estimate of Wastelands from Different Sources
S.No. Sources
Area
(m.ha)
Estimated
(E)/Scientific
(S)
1 National Commission on
Agriculture(NCA-1976)
175.00 E
2 Directorate of Economics and
Statistics, Department of Agriculture
and Cooperation
38.40 E
3 Ministry of Agriculture (1982) 175.00 E
4 Department of Environment and
Forest
95.00 E
5 National Wasteland Development
Board
123.00 E
6 NBBS and LUP, ICAR, 1994 187.00 E
7 Society for Promotion of Wastelands 129.00 E
8 # National Remote Sensing Agency,
1995
75.50 S
9 Dr.N.C. Saxena (Secretary RD-WD) 125.00 E
# The figure of 75.50 m.ha is derived from the results of land use/land
cover mapping done on1:250,000 scale during 1989-90, using satellite data
at the request of Planning Commission for increasing food production in
various Agro-climatic zones.
In this context, it is important to highlight the extent of
variation in the spatial distribution of wastelands throughout the
country. In fact, in India the wasteland ranges from 38 to 187 million
hectares, according to the estimates given by different agencies with
diverse classification strategies, table 2.
Fig. 3 Incidence of B Category Environmentally Degraded Wastelands
Fig. 4 Incidence of C Category Environmentally Degraded Wastelands
Problems of Planning Wasteland Development
India is one of the biggest countries of the world, so
wasteland in India is not the same everywhere. It vary significantly in
terms of its nature, type, formation and location as per the given data
and maps. As the nature and causes of wasteland formation are not
the same in different parts of the country. Hence, the wasteland
development plan suitable for one region may not be suitable for
another region. No doubt, in different five years plans, the
Government of India has launched various programmes first under
the Ministry of Rural Development and then under the Ministry of
Land Resources to develop the degraded wastelands in different parts
of the country, but it could not achieved its targeted objectives. In
fact, the present system of planning of wasteland development is
based on routine process of implementation. Although the district,
and blocks are accepted as a proper unit of administration of our
planning programme, the planning machineries and administrative
agencies are inadequate both in number and quality in formulation
and implementation of wasteland development programmes. There
has not been proper much decentralization of plan formulation at the
district and block levels in identification and planning of activities
for wasteland development.
As per the instructions given by the respective heads of the
departments, wasteland development programmes are usually
implemented at the state of regional level i.e. agriculture and forest
departments. The concept of regional consideration may not receive
substantial attraction among our planners in selection of appropriate
activities for wasteland development. It could be seen clearly that the
present systems of planning for wasteland development do not have
any systematic effort on locational implications. The lack of
systematic approach probably not attempted due to the magnitude of
task involved is mainly responsible for our failure to bring
sustainable development of wastelands. This failure is attributed to
lack of scientific analysis of the region. There is a reason to believe
that the implementation of the plans, however, has been left to the
judgment of local officials and sometime politicians.
The Strategy and Regional Planning Approach
Development of wastelands mainly in non-forest areas aimed
at checking land degradation putting such wastelands of the country
to sustainable use and increasing bio-mass availability especially that
of fuel wood, fodder, fruits, fiber and small timber, the Government
of India is taking up this colossal task through its Integrated
Wasteland Development Project Scheme (IWDP) by revitalizing and
reviving village level institutions and enlisting peoples participation.
It is peoples own programme which aims at giving them actual
decision making powers in terms of project implementation and fund
disbursal.
It is one of the programmes which are making sincere efforts
towards the empowerment of the people so that a sense of collective
responsibility can be evolved among them. The new guidelines for
watershed development* provides a paradigm shift in the traditional
approach where the role of Government is changed from that of
governance to facilitation.
The institutional arrangements envisaged in the guidelines
can be seen as a reflection where the sustainability comes through the
involvement of the people and the local bodies. The approach of
watershed development in a holistic manner automatically strikes a
prudent balance between environmental concerns and developmental
aspirations. The efforts being made under the guidelines can be
termed as sincere and honest as here the survival of life itself is at a
stake with the watershed development rather than the quality of life
itself as compared to similar situations in the developed countries.
Man and environment are interdependent. The changes in the
environment directly affect the lives of the people depending on it. A
degraded environment means a degraded quality of life of the people.
Environmental degradation can be tackled effectively through the
holistic development of the watershed. A watershed provides natural
geo-hydrological unit for planning any developmental initiative. In
fact, the effective community control has been an integral part of the
Indian social fabric which was fragmented by the colonial rule. This
programme is an effort towards its restoration and a small step in the
achievement of this goal which might turn into a big leap with the
support from the people.
In order to develop wastelands through the devices of
regional planning, it is crucial to have a scientific study and
systematic planning procedure. The development of wastelands
depends on the effective implementation of regional planning which
can be made in order to realize the desired objectives only when the
Mohammad Afsar Alam 160
nature, type, forms of wastelands and their resource potentials are
identified in different parts of the country. In this paper an attempt
has been made to prepare a model regional planning programme for
wasteland development.
Objectives and Management of Waste Land Development
Programme
The wasteland development programme has manifold objectives.
Goals in this regard are given below:
Identification of area specific wastelands in different parts of
the country.
To check further degradation of land.
Sustainable use of degraded lands.
Increasing biomass availability along with nourishing soil.
Restoration of ecological balance.
* Watershed development refers to conservation, regeneration and
the judicious use of all the resources.
Developing wasteland extension programme.
Selection and utilization of appropriate technology.
Ecological regeneration of degraded lands.
Consultancy services in the field of activities selected for the
wasteland development.
Coordinating integrated wasteland development regional
planning programme.
Implementing mechanisms for the improvement and
sustainable use of technology for wasteland development.
This can be done by participatory approach with the help of
local people in the planning and management of lands. Ecosystem
approaches in management considering watershed, would ensure
integration of various ecological components (both biotic and
abiotic). This would also help in enhancing the socio-economic status
of a region. Similar approaches practiced in drier districts like
Ananthpur (Andhra Pradesh), Tumkur, Banglore rural (Karnataka)
have yielded positive results with increase in land productivity and
ground water levels in the respective watersheds.
People friendly action programme helps local people and
organizations in rehabilitating and improving the degraded lands. In
this regard, management aspects are:
Fixing target areas (degraded forest areas and pastures, public
and private wastelands, farmlands with lower productivity).
Assessing the infrastructure available to meet the
requirement.
Finding the possibilities of involving the Government, NGOs,
and local people. The key element of a participatory approach
being local peoples priorities; provision of secure rights and
gains to the poor; flexible approaches; working with local
groups and institutions, capacity building of motivated local
people.
Government has to give priorities in terms of funding,
encouragement, and policy making.
Measures to strengthen local organizations, by delegating
more power and responsibility to local communities,
decentralized resources management etc.
Research and information access to understand the causes for
land degradation and effective means to address them.
Wasteland monitoring and preparedness.
NGOs have pivotal task in the implementation of the action
plan.
Mechanisms by which local people, NGOs and other groups
can contribute to implementation and monitoring of
wasteland development programme on regular basis.
Promoting conservation of natural resources through
traditional knowledge.
Promoting ideas to consider the village as an ecosystem and
to maintain its integrity.
Providing examples of the practices done at different places.
Integrated village ecosystem planning with watershed
approach needs to be espoused for sustainable development.
This would enhance the total natural resources base by
restoration and management of degraded wastelands, production of
basic biomass needs of the village community and equity in
distribution of biomass resources.
Action Plan
The following action plan is proposed for the sustainable
development of wastelands in India.
Employment of people through institutional arrangements.
Planning from below bottom up approach.
Sustainability through peoples participation.
In situ soil and moisture conservation measures like terracing,
bunding, trenching, vegetative barriers and drainage line
treatment should be adopted.
Planting and sowing of multi-purpose trees, shrubs, grasses,
legumes and pasture land should be developed.
Natural regeneration should be encouraged.
Promotion of agro-forestry and horticulture.
Wood substitution and fuel wood conservation measures.
Awareness raising, training and extension among local people
should be encouraged.
Encouraging peoples participation through community
organization and capacity building.
Drainage line treatment by vegetative and engineering
structures.
Development of small water Harvesting Structures.
Afforestation of degraded forest and non-forest wasteland.
Development and conservation of common property
resources.
Selection of suitable and fast growing species of plants to
revetage the degraded forest wasteland.
The growth of phytoplankton and other aquatic plant species
in water logged areas should be harvested for manufacturing
bio-fertilizers.
Land affected by shifting cultivation should be rehabilitated
through revegetating the wastelands with indigenous species.
Efforts should be made to practice agriculture in marshy
lands with the application of appropriate technology.
Encouragement of common wastelands should be checked.
Developing non-farm activities in salt affected lands.
In order to develop wastelands, suitable animal husbandry
programmes such as dairy development with good market
facilities should be formulated and implemented.
There is too much scope to utilize wastelands for industrial
purposes. Entrepreneurship development programme should
be organized periodically and frequently, focusing on the
possibility of starting industries in the wastelands.
Data Collection and Findings
Data findings are considered as the pre-requisite for the
successful implementation of wasteland regional planning. Data
collection should be made keeping the following key points in mind:
It should be done on regular and periodic basis.
Quality of land should be assessed in terms of biological and
chemical properties of soils in the wastelands.
Field trips should be organized in order to update frequent
changes and development in wastelands.
Required information on local resource potential should be
gathered from different sources, such as local industrial
department, local entrepreneurs, NGOs, Geologists and
Geographers.
Work should be started on the basis of available information from
surveys at the appropriate level according to the status of
different types of wastelands.
Undertake the updating analysis and interpretation of data
derived from identification, sampling and evaluation activities.
Inter-disciplinary approach should be adopted while data
collection.
Undertake inventories with the involvement of local people and
identify the local peoples behavior on utilization of wasteland
resources.
Means of Implementation
So far as the implementation of regional wasteland
development planning is concerned, no doubt, it would be a difficult
task for any single department. Therefore, it is an utmost requirement
to integrate and coordinate various activities for successful
implementation of regional wasteland development planning. Hence
there is a need to focus on the following efforts:
Special regional planning units should be established at micro-
level, i.e. at the district and block level for the formulation and
implementation of wasteland development programme.
By human resource development and institution building, the
regional level capacity should be developed and strengthen.
Allocation of activities should be made appropriately among
various departments, such as forest department, agricultural
department, social forest department and departments of allied
activities for effective implementation of it s objectives, targets,
and priorities of wasteland development programme.
Areas of operation of various agencies should be properly
demarcated in implementing wasteland development
programmes.
Motivating local people to take part in the selection and
cultivation of indigenous species of crops in degraded
wastelands, shifting cultivation lands and so on.
Efficient use of trained personnel in scientific and technological
fields relevant to the identification of appropriate activities for
sustainable development of wastelands.
The capacity of government and private institutions, NGOs, and
local communities should be enhanced with a view to undertake
inter-sectoral coordination and planning for wasteland
development.
Conclusion
The present system of planning is based on centralized
system, though decentralized attempts have been made during
various plan periods. In this situation, the planning for wasteland
development at the overall level may not be suitable for different
regions in the country. The reason is that the planning done at the
national level has not given due consideration to regional aspect of
development. Due to neglect of spatial aspect of development,
planning has consistently been at the macro-level. It can be traced
that the nature and causes of wastelands formations are not the same
in all parts of the country. Wasteland formation differs significantly
in different regions and in different forms. Hence, we need specific
regional planning for sustainable wasteland development. But at
present there is no specific regional planning for wasteland
development in India. It is taken as a part of agricultural sectoral
planning. Hence, the formulation and implementation of integrated
Wasteland Development Planning depends on the important points
discussed above.
Mohammad Afsar Alam 16S
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Asia Pacific Journal of Social Sciences, Vol.V(1), Jan-June 2013, pp.152-166

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